Currently Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa shares the honour of holding seven outdoor titles alongside his legendary predecessors Jordi Tarres and Dougie Lampkin. However the reigning champion has every chance of claiming a record breaking eighth crown that will set him apart from the other winning duo when the 2014 FIM Trial World Championship begins at Mount Tarrengower, Australia this weekend coming. Although dominant during the recent FIM X-Trial World Championship, Bou will know that his route to his eighth successive outdoor crown is likely to be a much tougher affair having been pushed all the way to the wire last season by his Spanish compatriot Adam Raga – Gas Gas.
During the early part of the 2013 series it was Raga who appeared to have adapted best to the no-stop rules that were reintroduced at the start of last season. Adam’s three day wins on the bounce in the opening three rounds confirmed that Bou had a fight on his hands and although Toni re-established control mid-championship, a spirited end of term performance by Raga meant that the title was not decided until the last roll of the dice. Raga will again start the season as one of Bou’s main challengers from a chasing pack that is likely to include the usual candidates in the form of Jeroni Fajardo – Beta and Albert Cabestany - Sherco.
Cabestany is currently in great form having followed Bou home in the 2014 FIM X-Trial World Championship and is riding full of confidence whilst showing no signs of being the second eldest rider in the series at the age of thirty three years old. In contrast Fajardo has been riding far from his best indoors and finished down in fifth spot in the final rankings. Jeroni will certainly need to buck this trend if he is to repeat the top three placing he recorded outdoors last season. The championship’s oldest competitor, Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa has also not enjoyed the best of results in recent X-Trial events and will look to the start of the new series to regain some of the magic that has kept him inside the top five for an incredible seventeen consecutive seasons.
Britain’s James Dabill – Beta has just rounded out his best ever X-Trial season to claim fourth position in the championship thanks to a series of consistent showings. James will be hoping to repeat the same kind of level of riding in Australia as he finally looks to break into the elite top five come the end of the year. Eighteen year old Jorge Casales – Gas Gas from Spain is another rider on the rise, the winner of the 2013 FIM Junior Trial World Cup, is widely tipped as a potential future champion at the highest level in the making and will certainly be doing his best to make his mark amongst the more establish World Pro riders as the 2014 campaign unfolds.
The newly titled FIM Trial World Cup, that now has no age restrictions and replaces the previous Junior class looks to be wide open and ready for the taking. With almost all of last year’s main contenders having transferred to the World Pro category for 2014, Italy’s Matteo Poli – Ossa and France’s Steven Coquelin – Gas Gas are the two stand out names along with the winner of the 2013 FIM 125 Trial Cup, Quentin Carles de Caudemberg – Beta who appear to be the potential front runners in this new and unknown division.
It is much the same story in the hunt to find the winner of the 2014 FIM 125 Trial Cup, with last season’s top crop of riders having moved up a class ahead of this season. French rider Gael Chatagno – Sherco and Noe Pretalli – Gas Gas are the highest ranked riders from last year who remain eligible and in the same category, and with a chance of winning this class come the final round in Spain in September. There are sure to be many twists and turns, quite literally, before then and starting with the opening encounter in Australia this weekend.